The Divine Order

Die Göttliche Ordnung

Panorama | Vancity Theatre Screening

Petra Volpe’s rousing movie takes on the fight for women’s suffrage in Switzerland, which ended with victory in…1971. That’s right: before that year women were denied the right to vote, and Volpe is sharp in her portrayal of the culture that enabled this oppression. Marie Leuenberger plays Nora, a housewife who lives at the beck and call of her husband (Max Simonischek). When he vetoes her decision to work part-time and her niece Hanna (Ella Rumpf) is criminally charged for fulfilling her sexuality, the wheels start to turn. Soon Nora is a full-out activist, speaking truth to power and agitating for change. Drama and comedy balance evenly in the lead-up to a countrywide vote on the issue; of course we know the result, but that doesn’t lesson the film’s quality one bit.

"A mainstream crowd-pleaser adept at inspiring and amusing in equal measure… Thanks to its director’s sturdy guidance and Leuenberger’s fine lead performance as Nora, whose resolve is colored by doubt and trepidation, the film never feels stilted or preachy; rather, it radiates an infectious admiration for the courage shown by its heroines in the face of immense obstacles." Nick Schager, Variety